


Gibbs' Family

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: 'cause he really needs one, Age Play, Canonical Character Death, De-Aged Characters, Ficlet, Gen, Gibbs Needs a Hug, Non-Sexual Age Play, Screw this I'm making that a tag, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-24
Updated: 2016-06-24
Packaged: 2018-07-17 23:46:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7290979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had all started when Shannon and Kelly had died, though, really, Gibbs didn't think it hurt as much as it used to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gibbs' Family

It had all started when Shannon and Kelly had died. Gibbs had known he had always wanted to be a father and a husband, and those two things had been ripped away from him too soon when he had come back from his tour to an empty house. It wasn't fair, he had thought, that while he was far more likely to die on a tour, that his family had to die back home. He had tried to marry other women, maybe start a new family, but it just never felt the same as when he had married Shannon. Eventually, he gave up trying to find someone new in a relationship and devoted his time to his work at NCIS. That is, until he got assigned Anthony DiNozzo.

There were just little things, at first. Sometimes the man would pause with his thumb tracing his lips, like he didn't realize what he was doing, or like he might be punished for whatever reason for that action. He would look around, and when he had decided no one was watching him, start tracing again. Except Gibbs was watching. And he knew, even if Tony would never admit it, that he had a thumb-sucking habit he had tried to kick when he was younger.

Then there was the small blanket that Tony kept in his desk. It fell out one day while Tony was rooting through his desk for an old file and he had turned bright red, stuffing it back into the desk and slamming the drawer harder than necessary. Gibbs pretended not to notice, and got Tony an extra filing cabinet behind his desk.

They danced around the issue at hand for weeks until finally Gibbs had enough and cornered Tony in the men's room. On the verge of tears, Tony confided in Gibbs that he enjoyed age regression, and used it as a therapy to release steam after cases and when his less than stellar childhood hit him a little too hard. He begged for Gibbs to not tell anyone, worried that everyone would mock him for this.

Gibbs promised not to tell, and told Tony that if he ever needed a safe space to go that wasn't the man's apartment, that he had a spare room upstairs in his house. Tony nodded, and they left the bathroom like nothing had happened. Later that week, after Tony had to shoot a suspect, Gibbs had a knock at his door and he met Tony's little side for the first time, clutching at his blanket and sucking his thumb anxiously. Gibbs ushered him in and they sat on his couch, just watching  _I Love Lucy_ reruns until Tony fell asleep. And the next morning, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo was back, sitting on Gibb's couch with two bowls of cereal made. Gibbs didn't say a word, and neither did Tony, but both of them knew they wouldn't mind doing this again.

That's what they did, for several months. Gibbs began getting to know Tony's little side better, and Tony, in turn, opened up more to Gibbs. Tony went pretty young, actually. Young enough that sometimes he would forget to go to the bathroom until it was almost too late, so one day Gibbs bought Tony a box of Pull-Ups, just in case he didn't make it and something unfortunate happened. Tony flushed but nodded, and dutifully wore the Pull-Ups when he needed to come over and relax with Gibbs.

Then Kate came into the picture.

It was during one of their "sessions" as Gibbs had taken to mentally calling them that Kate barged in and found out their secret. Tony, thoroughly freaked out, ran and hid in the bathroom as Gibbs made Kate a cup of coffee and gently explained what he and Tony did. At the end of it, Kate didn't storm out and never return, she didn't accuse them of being a couple, she just asked if she could try it some time as well. Gibbs was a bit shocked, but he thought to the sense of fulfillment he had when he helped take care of Tony, and he said he would discuss it with the younger man.

Tony was quite understandably conflicted in having a "sister" in this whole business, but he agreed to give everything a shot.

And he grew even more smitten to "Katie" than Gibbs ever could.

If Gibbs had to guess, he'd say that Katie was about 7, and Tony was maybe 3 on the outside. There was a bit of a gap there, but neither of his kids seemed to mind, and he certainly didn't.

He accidentally slipped one day in front of Ducky, calling Tony "kiddo" when he shouldn't have. And that was how they all found out about Ducky and Abby, and then they started to come over to Gibbs' house as well, Katie and Tony getting "Uncle Ducky" and Abby getting "Uncle Gibbs" in the mix of everything.

When McGee came onto the team, both kids agreed to welcome him into their fold, and he jumped on the opportunity, becoming Timmy, a mischievous 5-year-old. Sometimes it made Gibbs upset that 2 of his kids did this because their real childhoods weren't good, but then he saw them playing together and having fun, he remembered why this was a good thing for all of them.

When Kate died it hit all of them hard. Tony and McGee came over almost every night to Gibbs' house, and usually Tony would wake up screaming in the middle of the night, McGee waking up because of the screams, shaking like a leaf. Ziva was good but she could never replace Kate, and consequently Katie. Though Gibbs knew it was only a matter of time before Ziva found out about their sessions like Kate did, so he told McGee and Tony that he would be explaining to Ziva their after-hours therapy. They were both hesitant, as could be expected, but Ziva took it surprisingly well. And if she occasionally dropped by Gibbs' house when McGee and Tony were over, and played the fourth person in a game or helped put the kids to bed, no one said anything. Gibbs certainly didn't reveal the one time she slipped and called him "Dad" on the way out of his house (though that did make his heart warm for a week); anything that happened at his house, stayed at his house.

This carried on for several years. Ziva got to play with Abby sometimes, too, which Gibbs thought was a welcome distraction for her from the boys. Ducky and he would watch them play, have a drink, remember how Kate used to be with them in hushed tones, mourning a loss that never seemed to fully heal, though Ziva created her own place in their hearts, like she was habit to do. And then, she left too.

Gibbs was glad that at least this time, she left of her own volition rather than dying, but it still hurt him to think about the fact that he couldn't help her. He tried to ensure her comfort, the fact that she had a family here if she wished, however dysfunctional it might be. He was reeling from that blow still when they came across Bishop.

In a way, she felt like Ziva and Kate combined. Quick as a whip, though slow to trust. Habits such as her drawing, but also the quickness to defend herself if someone challenged her. Tony and McGee were all together too eager to ask Gibbs to let her know about what they did. Gibbs wanted to wait, though, and see where her loyalties lied. When he decided she could be trusted, he let her in, giving Ellie the chance to play with Tony and Timmy. Ellie was about as young as Tony, and Gibbs knew he would have a handful with this team configuration, but they were always a handful, and that never stopped him before.

Looking back on all the events leading up to where they were now, most of them stung, but thinking back on it, however painful they might have been, he finally thought that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't change a thing. He watched the kids playing on the floor and discussing what movie they might want to watch tonight.

Yeah, he wouldn't change a thing.


End file.
